Favorite Films By Decade: 1980s

My picks for favorite films of the decade leading up to the Napa Valley Film Festival and the opening of the new Century theater. This is the 1970s edition, limited to 20, some with notes.

In no particular order:

Raging Bull

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Brilliant Woody Allen film. Deadly serious and funny too. Martin Landau is great in it.)

Salvador (Oliver Stone’s best film set during the “troubles” in El Salvador. Great performances by James Woods and, believe it or not, Jim Belushi.)

The Falcon and The Snowman

Full Metal Jacket

Airplane (Still hilarious!)

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Wings Of Desire (Beautiful film, shot mainly in gorgeous black and white.)

Amadeus

Sex, Lies & Videotape (Great debut film by Soderbergh. The title tells you what the movie is about.)

This Is Spinal Tap

A Soldier’s Story (Great ensemble cast in this story of the murder of a black sergeant in the south during WW2 with wonderful performances by Howard Rollins and Adolph Caeser.)

Out Of Africa

The Right Stuff

Hope And Glory (A WW2 coming of age story set during the London Blitz.)

The Princess Bride

The King Of Comedy (A film way ahead of it's time. Great performances by DeNiro, Sandra Bernhard and Jerry Lewis (yes, that Jerry Lewis) as a very Johnny Carson like character.)

Withnail And I (A funny, twisted, story about two down and out London actors at the end of 1969. Richard E. Grant is wonderful as Withnail. It is a cult film that has a following in England like The Big Lebowski does here. )

Empire Of The Sun (Great Speilberg movie that many people don’t know about. Features a 13 year old Christian Bale in his film debut in a coming of age story during WW2 in Singapore. You knew he was really talented not long into the movie and by the end there was no doubt.)

The Natural